Olympics

Just watched the badminton. gail emms and nathan robertson look certain to get a medal for GB. Beat the chinese 2-1 and the last game they were 17-12 down and won 21-19.

On another note... how many medlas do you think GB will get?

i say 30

 

12

More importantly, Gail Emms - Would you ?

 

It was funny how everyone raved about the opening ceremony. So far it seems the fireworks were CGIs and the girl singing was miming because the girl with the good voice wasn't as cute.

 

why not

 

Certainly.

 

Every hole is a goal.

 

Yes indeed.

 

Even a mans bum hole?

 

Mabye not.

 

Some excellent talent on show during the gymnastics on wednesday :]]:]]

 

Indeed. Not to mention the conditions the athletes were kept in for up to 4 hours as they waited to parade around being criticised by Sir Clive. In addition, the arresting of reporters, the Great Firewall of China and the news of terrorist attacks during the games make me quite confident that london can pull off a better games in 4 years.

 

i've still not seen the opening cermenoy. i think there is such a thing as trying too hard and it looks like i've been proved right.

 

I hope you aren't talking about the Chinese women's team, with an average height of 4ft 9" and average weight less than 6 stones, the Americans are now wondering if they were actually over 16, especially as one of them just lost a baby tooth :dismay:

 

I'm with Big Ron on the subject of Chinese women.

 

I just thought I'd quote the picture again for anyone who hadn't seen it the first 6 times.

But yes, I would fill her up.

 

is she a car you sound like you want to fill her up with petrol

 

My favorite British Olympian:



Sorry, meant to say favourite.

 

Have you read the BBC article on what Phelps eats?

 

I used to live with a guy who was a competitive cyclist, just about but not quite US Olympic team caliber. Anyway, he would eat a big lunch, go out on a ride and come back an hour before dinner with a loaf of cheese bread, you know a 15 inch long, 4"x4" high/wide block of bread with cheese baked into it. Really good stuff. Anyway, he would walk into the dining area, kick off his cleats, and eat the entire loaf in 5 minutes.
Then he'd go up and shower, come downstairs and eat three times as much as anyone else for dinner. Ridonculous.

I never saw what he had for breakfast, but I am sure it would astound and amaze.

 

Can't wait for the women's pole vault.

 

By the end of the day we'll be above the Roos on the medal table.

Of course, if Bradley Wiggens could take part in the 50m pedal, the 55m backwards cycle, the 100m sprint cycle, 100m medley cycle and all the others he'd get 8 medals as well. All this 'offically the best olympian ever' is complete tripe. Statistically, maybe, but in know way can the thinking man consider him the best ever.

Edit: Also, Fitz. I've just seen the D-Day picture in that there montage. Are you joking? Having a picnic beneath the cliffs on Omaha while our boys cracked on. Sport, food and TV you can have. War is ours.

 

I have also been pointing out to anyone who will listen that this 'greatest Olympian ever' title is a load of tripe. There are more swimming events now than in 1972 so if Mark Spitz cold have entered more races he probably would have got more medals*. Also it seems a tad unfair that swimmers get a medal for swimming each different stroke over each distance but there's only one gold medal to be had in the decathalon.

*And he did it with a moustache!

 

Fantastic performance in the rowing earlier - 2 bronze and a gold

 

Phillips Idowu and Ohrougugugu in trac and field isnt it?

 

100% agree. Swimming is swimming. Subdividing it into strokes is just a bit odd. Phelps is a terrific athlete, but it's tiresome hearing him compared with the likes of Carl Lewis, Jessie Owens and Ray Ewry, who had talents across a genuine range of events.

Just watched Hoy and Edgar. Fantastic. I wish our footballers etc. would learn from our cyclists. It's a weird feeling watching the action in the velodrome. As a Brit, seeing us dominate time and again. It's like being an American.

Knighthoods for the likes of Addlington, Hoy, Wiggins. They are all legends. Add Ainslie to that list after he wins tomorrow.

I've got a pole for that vaulter.

 

its annoying that in the world championships early this year britian won 10 gold medals in the track cycling, yet we cant at the olympics because, they did not want too many events. in the swimming phelps can go for 8 golds medals but in the track cycling some of the events have been taken away to stop this happening. I feel sorry for victora pendleton who won 2 golds and 1 silver at the world championship. sheis by the best female track cyclist, but yet at the olympics she can only go for one gold.

 

I grew up a swimmer and competed in Jr High and High School. I really appreciate Phelps and the Japanese breast stroker Kitajima. Their techniques are amazing.

As you know, there are 4 different strokes and the different strokes are totally different, like say discus, shotput and javelin are different. Basically they are throwing things out on the grass, like each stroke is basicallly just jumping in a pool and getting to the other side faster than the other guy.

The expansion of events in swimming is like the expansion of the running events based on distance. To the non-participator, running is running, right? But the participants know swimming 1000m is totally different than swimming 200m which is totally different than swimming 50m. Same for running...sprinters do not typically do distance events. 400m runners are not the same people as 1000m runners. They all require physical attributes that different.

I'm totally fine with the running and swimming events.

What gets me about the Olympics is Baseball and Softball, beach volleyball, and badminton, even Pingpong. These games have a very limited appeal, and in some cases are really not 'athletics'. I'm shocked that the US hasn't somehow forced American Football into the games. Is Air Rifle really an athletic sport? At least the Archers have to pull on the bow...

Rowing and Cycling and other sports that require special equipment that are difficult for poor people in poor countries to afford are questionable to me as well. I recognize the athletes that participate in them are fantastic, but the inability to have access to the equipment is kind of unfair.

Even though the popularity of taekwondo and judo is not tremendously huge, the appeal is fairly broad, participation is easy and requires only a couple people and a place to do it, so I am OK with them.

I hadn't heard this about limiting entry into numbers of events...is that a decision made by the GBR Olympic committee or by the IOC?

 

I know its hard for people in the not so well off countires to take up track cycling. its also just as hard for them to find an olympic sized swimming pool.

In the track cycling there has not been any limiting to the number of events you can enter in the olympics. you can do as many as you like, but there has been a limit to the events that are there to choose from. alot of womens events have being taken away, and a few of the mens that they are able to do at the world championships.

 

So what you're saying is that the American medals are all fine with you, but when Britain start to dominate it is unethical? Because all those Africans have swimming pools to practise in.

 

That is exactly what I am saying.


I mean, no it isn't at all what I am saying. I don't understand your point about Britain dominating. Is it related to my comment on the bourgeois nature of cycling and rowing?

To clarify:
You don't need a track to run on. Barefoot Kenyan distance runners prove this. You don't need a pool to swim in. Triathlons in fact are held in open water. You don't need a Nautilus machine to lift weights. I think you see my point... I love the athleticism of cycling and rowing, but I feel it is open to only a fairly exclusive segment of the world's population.

Poor countries will be at a disadvantage over rich ones simply because we have the leisure time and ability to devote resources to training where other places have to eat to survive and work to live. If a Kenyan son said to his mum & dad "I shall not be tending the herd today, papa. I need to practice my fencing", something tells me there would be a disciplinary action involved.

It requires a lot of money to seriously pursue sports and frankly most people in most places simply don't have it. It's not fair. That's why I like the sports that don't require much equipment investment to participate in since it is far more egalitarian. It's one of the things that makes me love football and basketball. To participate, all you need is a couple goals with some space in between, a ball and a few people.

A bicycle is a month's rent for people in "the second world"...maybe a year's in the 3rd world. A derailleur on a competitve bicycle would break most family's budgets. The food bill alone for an athlete in training would bankrupt them.